


Invisible Together

by wolfworldstars



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, M/M, Punk England (Hetalia), ghost character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-11
Updated: 2021-01-11
Packaged: 2021-03-16 01:40:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,602
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28698591
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wolfworldstars/pseuds/wolfworldstars
Summary: Matthew has always felt invisible, and after moving to England with his boisterous twin brother Alfred it seems that will only get worse. He finds a friend in someone who nobody else can see, the only complication is that Gilbert has been dead for two years...
Relationships: America/England (Hetalia), Canada/Prussia (Hetalia), France & Prussia & Spain (Hetalia), France/Spain (Hetalia)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 16





	Invisible Together

“First day of our new school!” Alfred grinned as he skipped along the sidewalk. No, not sidewalk. What did they call it here? Oh, pavement.

“Hm…” His brother, Matthew, didn’t seem as thrilled about it as Alfred was. He was looking down at his scuffed sneakers – no, trainers – with his light brown hair falling into his eyes as it often did; it was longer than Alfred’s, beginning to trail down the back of his neck, and his face was a little fuller, but other than that they were identical. It was strange to look at Matthew. Alfred had only met his twin a few weeks ago, and seeing him was looking in a mirror only to see a quiet, more withdrawn version of himself. He wondered briefly if he would have been more like Matthew if he’d grown up in the Canadian mountains with their grandparents rather than in America with their dad.

“Come on, it’ll be great!” Alfred enthused, throwing an arm around his brother’s shoulders. “Loads of new people to talk to, clubs to join, and- holy crap, look at those grounds!” He raced towards the fence, gaping at the expansive green fields. “That’s like… so many football pitches!”

A tug at his arm began to drag him towards the front gate as Matthew caught up with him. “Come on, we’re already late for the first day.”

He was right, there was barely anyone left outside, only a few younger kids rushing from their parents cars to the doors while a teacher shouted at some boys sitting on bike racks with untucked shirts and loose ties to get inside. The building was nothing like Alfred would have pictured an English school to be, he’d expected something old and grand, like Downton Abbey or a smaller scale Buckingham palace, maybe with a few turrets or statues. Instead, he was greeted by a few drab blocks with a flat rooves and faded bricks, rows of windows running along both storeys of each uniformly.

Alfred shuddered as they approached. The ugly navy blue blazer and striped tie he had to wear was beginning to seem less like a suit and more like a prison uniform.

“Boys!” They turned at the sudden shout; the teacher they’d seen earlier was storming towards them. “Get to your form rooms, come on. You don’t have all day to stand around dithering.”

Matthew shrank under her gaze, but Alfred stepped in front of him confidently. “I would, but I don’t know where that is. We’re new here, Alfred Jones and Matthew Williams.”

The teacher’s stern expression suddenly disappeared. “Ah, of course. Well then, let’s get you signed in. I’m the deputy head, Ms Kirkland.” Without waiting for a response, she strode through a door to the left of the main entrance.

Alfred glanced at Matthew as they followed her inside. “Not exactly we were expecting, huh?” There was barely room to move in the office they’d entered – a desk stretched most of the way across, with two girls leaning on it impatiently as they watched staff on the other side frantically searching the Lost and Found for the PE kit of a snivelling little boy.

“Nicole, roll your skirt down. And Kaitlin, that had better not be gum you’re chewing,” Ms Kirkland chided the girls as she rushed behind the desk.

Alfred leant against the window ledge, picking at the peeling paint as he examined the noticeboard on the other side of the room. Lunchtime clubs and revision sessions were advertised, while faded posters with slightly torn edges proclaimed, ‘We excel at World Academy’.

“Right then, boys,” Ms Kirkland appeared in front of them again, and thrust a piece of paper at each of them. “Here are your timetables. You’re in Mr Vargas’ form, I’ll show you the way.”

The boys followed her out into the corridor. Small posters about bake sale (most of which were from months earlier) dotted the walls, and the occasional large display showed pictures of school trips from the past few years. Apart from that, the halls were identical and Alfred was surprised Ms Kirkland knew which room to stop at.

She poked her head around the door. “Julius, this is Alfred Jones and Matthew Williams, new students.”

“Ah, come on in then boys, don’t be shy!” The man at the front of the room laughed jovially, swinging his feet off the chair he’d been resting them on as Ms Kirkland glared at him. “I’m your form tutor, Mr Vargas. You can sit…” he waved an arm vaguely around the classroom as he surveyed the rows of desks, and settled on one on the far side by the window under a particularly dark brown damp patch on the ceiling. “…at the back over there.”

Alfred strode over to the desk, Matthew’s shoulder almost brushing against his as his brother trotted timidly after him. He swung his bag onto the table with a thud as he grinned at his new classmates who had turned around to size him up.

“Hey, I’m Feli!” A boy in front of him with curly brown hair and olive skin turned around as soon as Alfred sat down while the boy next to him filled out a sheet of equations. “Welcome to the school!”

“Sup dude, I’m Al, this is Mattie,” Alfred grinned.

“You can just call me Matthew,” his brother murmured to Feli.

“I’m the form captain,” Feli continued, “so if you have any problems or need help settling in, I’m always around to help out!”

“Sure thing, I’ll keep that in mind,” Alfred said, glancing wistfully out over the sports fields. “Actually, do you know where I’d be able to join the football team?”

“Of course, just go down to the PE office- actually. Grandpa!” Feli called, waving to Mr Vargas.

“Ah, Feli!” Mr Vargas rushed over to them. “What does my favourite little grandson want?”

Alfred would have squirmed if any of his family members said anything like that to him, especially in public, but Feli beamed.

“Alfred wants to know when football practice is.”

Mr Vargas turned to Alfred with a wide smile. Although his hair was greying, his expression was full of energy and he had the build of someone who had played a lot of sport in his youth. “Thursday afternoons. Just show up, my boy, I’ll have you do a few exercises and we’ll find you a spot.”

“Awesome!” Alfred exclaimed as Mr Vargas turned away.

The boy next to Feli, turned away from his homework to look at Alfred. “I’ll see you at football practice, then. I’m Ludwig, the team captain.”

“Nice,” Alfred smiled, leaning back in his chair. “Not to brag but I think I’ll be a pretty good addition to the team, I was quarterback at my old school.”

A thud on the table the other side of the aisle made his turn around. A boy with messy, dark blond hair was sitting by himself, a hood sticking out the back of his jacket. His hand had just slammed lazily against the table as he glared at Alfred with an irate expression. “This isn’t America,” he sneered. “In England, we play proper football. We actually use our feet to play it.” He sat back in his chair with a smirk.

Alfred turned his whole body to face him. “Dude, what’s your problem?”

“My problem?” The boy looked at him out of the corner of his eye. “Just some loudmouth American thinking he can waltz into our school and get into the football team without even knowing what game it is?”

“Do you really expect me to believe a weed like you knows more about sport than I do?” Alfred retorted. He wasn’t usually quick to anger, but he didn’t take kindly to being embarrassed. “You look like you’ve never even seen the sun let alone been on a pitch, or is that just make-up?”

The boy held a self-conscious hand up to his face, and Alfred noticed a hint of dark eye shadow over his eyelids. “Sod off,” he snapped.

Alfred laughed as he sat back, and heard some of his new classmates doing the same. His triumphant mood only wavered when he saw Matthew; his brother was looking down at the desk, his expression a mixture of disappointment and shame.

* * *

The second period classroom burst into life the second the bell rang, students who had needed to lean on their hands to keep themselves awake springing up to stuff their pencil cases and worksheets in their bags, paying no mind to the teacher who was still writing their homework on the board.

Matthew turned immediately in Alfred’s direction and waved. They were sat on opposite sides of the classroom thanks to the teacher who believed that ‘twins should spend some time apart and get to know people other than each other’. Neither of them had mentioned that they barely knew each other in the first place.

“Hey Alfie!” One of the boys called, his voice booming across the classroom even though he was at the same table as Alfred. “Want to come and play footie with us?”

“Sure thing!” Alfred slung his bag over his shoulder, jamming his stuff into it as he rushed out of the door.

Matthew slowly placed his pencil case in his bag, biting his lip. So much for his hopes of clinging to his brother, the one person he knew in this new environment. He nodded politely to the teacher – who didn’t seem to notice he was still in the classroom until he opened the creaky door – and stepped out into the packed corridor. People were rushing in all directions, some presumably to the canteen, though Matthew wasn’t sure where that was, and some out into the fresh air. Matthew tried to weave his way through the sea of people, but the multitude of shoulders shoving him in all directions made it impossible to navigate. He found it was easiest to just follow the flow of the crowd towards the doors, and breathed a sigh of relief when he managed to squeeze through the doorway, the frame scraping against his shoulder. He walked tentatively around the edge of the yard, his shoulders hunched as he prepared to duck in case one of the many footballs flying about came in his direction.

As he trudged onto the field, Matthew dragged his feet over the damp grass. When his grandparents had finally accepted that it was time for them to go to a care home and had reluctantly sent Matthew to live with his dad, he’d been secretly thrilled at the thought of finally meeting his twin brother. Someone who would understand him better than anyone else. But his expectations were far from reality, and Alfred ended up ignoring him in favour of more interesting people, as had always been the case in Matthew’s life.

Sighing, he sat down on a bench under the shade of a beech tree a little way away from the yard – not far enough to make the shouting any quieter unfortunately, but out of range of any projectiles. He took off his backpack and pulled out his copy of Anne of Green Gables, softly running a finger over the fraying spine. For as long as Matthew had owned it, the book had been well-worn from how much his mom had loved it in her life. Now it was barely holding together, and Matthew knew taking it into school was a risk, but having the book gifted to him by his grandparents when he was a child, which his mother had been reading before she went into labour brought comfort like nothing else. He carefully took out the embroidered bookmark his grandma had made, and crossed his legs to pick up reading where he’d left off last night.

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed two people. The taller boy with wavy blond hair was whispering behind his hand into his companion’s ear, pointing towards where Matthew was sitting. The other boy with shorter, darker hair caught met Matthew’s eyes, and after an awkward moment beamed at him. He dragged the blond boy by the arm, and Matthew just caught him muttering as they approached, “come on, he’s seen us now. It would be rude not to introduce ourselves.”

Matthew smiled back, feeling a little awkward as the two boys in sixth form uniforms sat down next to him.

“Morning, sorry if we freaked you out a little. You look terrified, poppet,” the blond boy said airily, and Matthew noticed the slight shadow of a beard on his chin. “This is just our usual spot. I’m Francis by the way, this is Toni.”

“Oh, sorry,” Matthew said, grabbing the handle of his bag and beginning to put his book back inside. “I can move if you want.”

“Oh no, don’t worry about that!” Toni reassured him, placing a casual hand on Matthew’s arm. “You look a little lonely over here by yourself. Are you new here?”

Matthew stayed perched on the edge of the bench, but he didn’t relax. “Yes, I just started today.”

“Ah, it’s not nice to move to a new place where you don’t know anyone, is it?” Francis said, his voice etched with sympathy. “I moved here from France in year 8, it took a while to get used to everything. I didn’t really speak to anyone until I met Toni and… well, what I mean to say is it’ll be alright eventually.”

Matthew smiled weakly at the reassurance, but looked at the ground away from the concerned faces. “Well, my brother’s here as well, but… he has other friends.”

“Aw,” Toni shuffled closer to him, his kind brown eyes shining. “We could be your friends, help you get to know the place. Right, Fran?”

“Of course,” Francis agreed, smiling warmly as he slid his hands over Toni’s shoulders. Leaning forwards, he must have caught sight of the book. “What are you reading there?”

Matthew hesitated, his hand over the cover of the book. He was sure Francis and Toni would jeer at him for reading such an old book – with a female main character at that – and end the friendship before it even began, but after a moment of looking at their genuinely curious faces he tilted it towards them.

“Oh, Anne of Green Gables!” Francis gasped, eyes shining. “It’s been years since I read that, I do love it though.”

The tension left Matthew’s shoulders immediately. “It’s been my favourite book since I was a kid,” he murmured, brushing the front cover with gentle fingers. “I’m actually named after Matthew Cuthbert.”

As Francis and Toni exclaimed over that and chatted away to him, Matthew realised he could see a resemblance to his namesake in himself; a shy, quiet boy, seeming a little odd to others and often overshadowed by his sibling. Although he loved the book, he could never quite see himself in the vivacious, enthusiastic main character who never stopped talking, but Anne’s situation was one he was beginning to relate to more and more, his own Matthew and Marilla being the brother and dad who had lived in a different country from him for his entire life and were now all he had.

The bell to signal the end of break rang sooner than he’d expected, and Francis and Toni had reluctantly bid him goodbye to go to their lesson. As Matthew stood up and carefully placed the precious book back inside his bag, he noticed a small plaque on the back of the bench.

_In memory of Gilbert Beilschmidt_

_2001-2016_

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you all enjoyed the first chapter!!   
> I don't usually ship PruCan or USUK but I had this idea about two years ago and I can't stop thinking about it so I'm writing out the full thing.   
> I was just going to mention Anne of Green Gables casually because it's a Canadian book and I love it, but then I realised Matthew could probably relate a lot to Anne in his situation, THEN I remembered Prussia is called Gilbert so now that's a whole thing 
> 
> I'm really excited to keep writing this, it's one of the concepts I'm most attached to!


End file.
